The Chromatic Scale

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Getting to Know Your Guitar: The Chromatic Scale

Your Guitar is designed as a chromatic instrument – that is, guitar frets represent chromatic “semi- tones” or “half-steps” up and down the guitar fretboard. This enables you to play scales and chords in any key, and handle pretty much any music that comes from the musical traditions of the Western world. In this sense, the chromatic scale is more foundational than it is useful as a soloing tool. Put another way, almost all of the music you will ever play will be made interesting not by the use of the chromatic scale, but by the absence of many of the notes of the chromatic scale! All keys, chords, scales, melodies and harmonies, could be seen simply the chromatic scale minus some notes. For all the examples that follow, play up and down (both ascending and descending) the fretboard. Here is what you need to know in order to understand The Chromatic Scale: 1) The musical alphabet contains 7 letters: A, B, C, D, E, F, G. The notes that are represented by those 7 letters we will call the “Natural” notes 2) There are other notes in-between the 7 natural notes that we’ll call “Accidental” notes. They are formed by taking one of the natural notes and either raising its pitch up, or lowering its pitch down. When we raise a note up, we call it “Sharp” and use the symbol “#” after the note name. So, if you see D#, say “D sharp”. When we lower the note, we call it “Flat” and use the symbol “b” after the note. So, if you see Db, say “D flat”. 3) For our basic purpose here, there are 5 Accidental notes, and each one has 2 possible names. They are: A#/Bb, C#/Db, D#/Eb, F#/Gb, G#/Ab. When notes have differing names but sound the same in pitch (for example, A# and Bb), we call those notes “enharmonic”. 4) Those accidentals fit in between the natural notes just as their names suggest. HOWEVER, there are no “Accidentals” between the notes B and C, or between E and F. 5) When you fit those accidental notes in-between the natural notes, you will use either all sharps or all flats. When we put them all together, it is called the “Chromatic Scale”. 6) Play the chromatic scale on the A string: Start with plucking your open A string, and simply go up one fret at a time, and you will have a perfect example of a chromatic scale. When you reach the 12th fret, you have hit another A note, one octave higher in pitch than the A note you started with. CHROMATIC SCALE USING SHARPS: CHROMATIC SCALE USING FLATS:

7) Notice there are 12 notes in total (that’s 7 naturals + 5 accidentals = 12 total notes) from A to G# (or A to Ab) before the sequence starts again at the next A note, which is 1 octave higher than the A note you started on. As you can see, even one string of the guitar contains the Chromatic Scale, and this is all 12 of the tones which are the foundation of our Western tonal system of music!

©2017 by Craig Tuttle Music Studios PG. 1 8) Please be aware: the chromatic scale could start with any note you choose; starting with A was just a convenient choice of starting at the beginning of the alphabet. For example, you could instead start on E (in this case let’s start with the open low E string), and run the same 12 notes in order until you hit the next Octave E, as follows:

9) Now, on your own, play each of the remaining strings D, G, B, and high E, from the “open” string up to the 12th fret and down again. You could also start from any note on any string, and play up the string until you go 12 frets higher and then back down again. For example, starting on the 3rd fret of the D string (an F note) you would play one fret at a time up the neck until you reach the 15th fret (this is another F note, but one octave higher). Then starting on that F at the 15th fret play a descending chromatic scale back down to the F on the 3rd fret. Theoretically, the chromatic scale could continue on forever with increasingly higher pitches in one direction or increasingly lower pitches in the other direction.

10) Okay, let’s run a long chromatic scale from the guitar’s lowest note, E, up a span of 3 Octaves until we hit an E at the 12th fret of the high E string. Notice the numbers at the edge of the fretboard indicating which fret-hand finger to use (1=pointer, 2=middle, 3=ring, 4=pinky). Make sure you are playing the open-string notes as well (shown in black): Below are two more fun ways to play chromatically from E to E spanning 3 octaves. This time, no note names on dots, just finger numbers to help guide you. Work on speed and accuracy! Remember to play them both ascending and descending! Don’t forget the open-string low E note (shown in black):

Some final thoughts about the chromatic scale: Technically, it has no tonal center, so it can be played over any chord. However, you will hear it used more often “for effect” in short segments or bursts, to create connections between target notes or momentary tension that resolves to notes in the key. About the Author Craig Tuttle is a professional guitar teacher in Monroe, Wisconsin, USA. He has many years of experience playing and teaching various styles of guitar to students of all ages. Click the link for more info on guitar lessons in Monroe, WI with Craig!